Parenting a birthday princess
by LAIsobel
Summary: Few months after adopting Cassandra Janet has to face one little fact... she's parenting a birthday princess... How will she manage? Will SG-1 help? Just a little something with movies, presents, lots of happy moments, cake and birthday.


**PARENTING A ****BIRTHDAY PRINCESS**

The morning in Colorado Springs was chilly. It was February after all. During the night the sky has been all clear and it was damn freezing. The morning was sunny and bright but still chilly.

People were feeling cold but they all looked happy. It was the sun. SG-1 was in the commissary, having breakfast together. They got back from a mission in the evening and decided to stay on the base. Besides because of the cold weather they started to serve hot-chocolate and spiced-tea in the commissary, to warm the staff. And it turned out Sam and Daniel really liked the hot chocolate.

This morning Janet joined them. She came early and she was freezing. She has never particularly minded winter but still… spring would be nice.

"Janet! Come and join us."

She smiled at them and sat down. She had her spiced tea and it was helping. She could feel her toes again.

They were all talking about the last mission, discussing also what they've missed while being gone. They had to know about the rumors after all! Colonel O'Neill reached into his pocket and then put some marshmallows into Carter and Daniel's chocolates. They didn't notice and first. Daniel actually didn't notice at all. He was somehow tired and not really paying attention. But Sam noticed and looked at Janet. Janet just smiled at her. Colonel O'Neill was looking all innocent. He could be a real sweetheart sometimes…

"Guys, do you have plans for this evening?"

"Hmm… I'm free. Why?"

"Cassie's gonna have birthday in few weeks… and so I was thinking about a party… wanna help?"

"Sure thing, doc!"

Jack was looking way too happy about it. One would think they were talking about his birthday...

"I don't want it to be a surprise… I think she should take part in it…"

"That's a good idea. She will be thrilled. Look at Jack. He is thrilled already…"

Daniel said that and others had to try really hard not to burst out laughing. But he was right, yeah.

"We'll come over around seven?"

"Nice. Thank you."

"That's okay. It will be fun…"

They talked a bit more before leaving the commissary. They all had things to do. Well Teal'c and Jack only had to finish their reports. They decided to train a bit together then. Besides Teal'c still had a lot to learn about Earth.

The day was gone rather quickly. Nothing extra thrilling has happened, it was a nice calm day. Jack offered Teal'c a ride, Daniel and Sam had their own cars there. After calling Fraiser, they also managed to pick up some Chinese take-out on their way. Cassie seemed to like noodles.

When they rang at the door, Janet opened them.

"Hi… she doesn't know you're coming…"

She smiled at them. They all entered the house, took off their jackets and gloves. They put the food onto the table and then Janet decided to call for Cassie. She was in her room.

"Cassie! Come here sweetie!"

They all heard the door opening and then after few more steps and seconds, the girl appeared. She smiled suddenly and squealed. She ran into Sam's arms and knocked her down to the couch. She was just too happy to see her. Others just smiled. They knew how close those two have been.

"Hey, we're here too you know?"

Jack told her, only half-teasing. She took her time before moving away from Sam. She jumped into Jack's arms then and he lifted her up. She buried her face into his neck and he felt her relax in his arms.

"Missed you, kiddo."

"Missed you too, Jack."

Their time was interrupted when Daniel tapped her shoulder. She looked at him and smiled. She reached for him so he took her from Jack's arms into his. Yes, she would be twelve soon but to them she was still the little scared brave girl from Hanka. And from time to time, she needed her family.

Janet was watching it all with a mixture of sadness and happiness on her face. She was happy those people were there for her daughter. She knew they would always love her and take care of her. She knew they were family now, all of them, in this strange and crazy way. But it also brought up those damn doubts about her abilities. Was she good enough? Could she make Cassandra happy? Could she really be her mother? She didn't know. And somehow she even felt jealous of Sam and Colonel O'Neill, of Daniel and even of Teal'c. They all seemed to mean a lot to her little girl. She knew it was silly…

They all sat down to the table and had dinner. In the middle of eating, Jack brought up the subject of the birthday party.

"I heard somebody's going to have birthday soon…"

Cassie looked at him shyly.

"Yes… It's me!"

She exclaimed all happy.

"You know kiddo I just have to wonder… how did you come up with the date? You didn't have our calendar on Hanka, did you?"

Cassie smiled at Sam and O'Neill suddenly knew he got himself into troubles. Carter had something to do with it… she would try to explain it to him. And he would either have to pretend not to understand… or he would need to lose his façade and try to understand and accept it – and be smart for Cassie. He didn't want her to think anything bad of him.

"It was actually easy, Sir."

"Easy?"

"Jack be careful with those questions…"

Daniel reminded him gently. It made others giggle. Jack threw him a glance saying 'I will get my revenge later' before looking back at Carter. Brilliant and beautiful as always.

"We had the exact position of Hanka in its solar system. And with the facility SG-7 had there, we had a pretty good estimation of their lunar system. It was really easy to find let's say approximate calendar."

"I remember that during the early spring, when it was cold in the morning and warm during the day, when some of the flowers were already in bloom and others remained green, we had this day when we would just walk around and talk, lie on the grass and in the evening we would have the sweetest … what is the word?"

"Pie sweetie, it's pie."

Janet helped her and Cassie gave her the bright smile that could make her heart swell with pride and love every single time.

"Looks like a birthday to me."

"I think so…"

"And the combination of Carter's findings and your memories you came up with March being that month?"

"Yes."

She answered him with her mouth full of noodles with chicken and almonds. She really loved that food, indeed.

"Okay… what about the date? I know I'm gonna have a headache from your explanation, but… tell me, Carter, what about the date? How did you manage to pinpoint 14th March?"

Sam smiled at him and then looked at others. She was giggling! Cassie had troubles with keeping the food in her mouth. Sam tried to remain calm and composed enough to answer him but it was hard.

"There's this … method, Sir."

"Method?"

"Yes… see you take a calendar, one of those big ones, you take out the list for March, you put it onto a wall in your garage or something … and …"

"And then you close your eyes and throw a dart."

Cassie finished the sentence for Sam. They all burst out laughing when Jack actually looked shocked and puzzled. He wanted to say something smart, he wanted to comment it but he couldn't. He was too damn surprised!

"Are you serious?"

"Ehm… I threw a dart and so I have my birthday."

Jack had to smile... it was brilliant. It really was.

"You managed to use that for the adoption papers?"

"Yes... there was nothing wrong with it. You can say it corresponded with the official story, Sir."

"Official story?"

"Yes… we had to come up with something because of the adoption."

Janet came closer and began to play with Cassie's hair. The girl kept on smiling at her, leaning her head against her mother's stomach. Others noticed and felt happy for them. It was a good sign.

"I think I have never heard the story, Doctor Fraiser. I was only assured of the well-being of Cassandra. Please, speak."

Teal'c asked her. She knew he cared about her kid. He was a good man, a very good man.

"The official story is that I had to go to Canada to join a medical conference there. And I went for a walk into a park and noticed little girl playing alone. I was watching her then when her nurse came. She noticed me and we began to talk. I found out that the little girl, Cassandra, was an orphan. I was coming to see her and play with her to the playground every day. And because I'm half Canadian I could ask for an adoption there."

"And they allowed it because I liked her and because they knew she would take care of me. I had to tell this story at school and in the library."

"Thank you, Cassandra for letting me know."

Teal'c smiled at her and she smiled back.

"It's nice to have a friend living in the White House, isn't it?"

Daniel asked them suddenly, looking all innocent. But he was right. It was damn good every now and then.

"Well speaking of friends… you have any friends at school?"

"Guess so… why?"

Jack knew this was the perfect opportunity to bring the whole subject up and surprise her with it. Hopefully she'd be happy.

"Here on Earth when you have birthday, you can have a birthday party."

"What's that?"

"Well, you can invite some people over, you have cake and you play games, you have fun. When it's warm you can be outside, have some fries and hamburgers, you can play. Oh and then there are presents of course…"

"And you think I can have a party?"

"Well we have to ask your mom… hmm, Fraiser? What do you think?"

Suddenly Janet saw two pairs of puppy eyes looking at her. She had to chuckle.

"Would you want a party, Cassie?"

"Yes… I think so…"

"Then yes, you can."

Cassandra was smiling at them, her mega-watt smile matching the one Carter knew how to make as well. Others were just happy for the girl. This was one of those nice things about living on Earth. Celebrations.

Daniel was a bit out of this, he has actually never celebrated birthday in his whole life… but he was sure they would manage the best party for Cassandra. He could tell that Teal'c was being nervous as well. He supposed that they haven't been celebrating birthday on Chulak either.

Cassie took Teal'c into the living room. There would be a new documentary from the National Geographic production on the TV soon. They liked to watch that channel together a lot. It was giving them more information about Earth. And besides Cassie found her way how to like the big guy… and she also found her way into his heart.

In the kitchen, while having another cup of coffee, others had to plan the party.

During the next hour they had it all planned. They would make it in three weeks, on Saturday in the early afternoon. And it would be a carnival party. Kids have always loved masks and costumes. It would be okay. They would have lots of balloons, cake, ice-cream, pop-corn, Jack offered to help with the grilling of meat into hamburgers, they would have fries… Yeah, all of them would be sick in the evening but that didn't matter that much.

Besides as Sam pointed out – if they would keep on drinking hot chocolate and coffee through the chilly days, they would be either sick or dead in three weeks anyway…

Daniel suggested inviting a clown and Sam had the brilliant idea of renting few trampolines. Janet didn't want to bother them but they all insisted on helping and so by the end of the evening, when Cassie was sleeping soundly on the couch, they had the whole party planned.

In few days, Sam had all the invitations ready. She sent them to parents of Cassie's friends from school. She was hoping they would want to come… it would most probably break Cassie's heart otherwise. In another two days, Sam had confirmation from twelve kids. Nice.

She had a free afternoon as well as Daniel, so they drove over to the school to pick up Cassie. She saw them and she looked thrilled. They were both still in their uniforms. They had to get back to the base for an evening meeting and somehow even Daniel has already got so used to being in the BDU most of the time.

Sam knew that those kids here have already seen uniforms. More than a half of them had one or both parents serving as soldiers, army officers or pilots. She was afraid that kids would be scared of the uniforms but they didn't mind at all.

They brought her to the base and went to the commissary to eat something. Cassie picked herself a red jell-o. Sam tried to tell her that the blue one was better.

"No, it's not… the red is better. Even Jack likes it better."

"Did you try the blue one?"

"Nope."

Sam wanted to try to persuade her to at least try but the girl was smiling at her, giggling and already digging into her jell-o, so she stayed quiet. Janet knew they have arrived so she went to see them.

Sam noticed her standing at the door and walked over to her. They were sitting pretty close anyway. They could still hear Daniel and Cassie talking.

"Hi… thanks for picking her up."

"No problem, it was a pleasure."

Sam would swear that some sort of a pain or sorrow has crossed Janet's face but it was gone before she could process it. They looked at those two and Sam had to laugh. They were both eating her blue jell-o, looking innocent and way too happy.

Sam wanted to talk to Janet but they overheard Daniel and Cassie talking. Janet's face was all white in the beginning but with the end of the conversation, she's been smiling and trying to hide her tears.

"_Do you have a costume for the party?"_

"_No… Daniel what should I wear?"_

"_Well… is there a fairy-tale you like? We can try to make you a costume based upon some character…"_

"_I think my favorite is Sleeping Beauty."_

"_Really? Why?"_

"_She had good and caring parents. They loved her. But something bad has happened to her… and she sort of lost them. But in the end they were all happy and loved. I like that."_

"_So we can try to get you a costume of Sleeping Beauty, what do you think?"_

"_Yes!"_

Sam looked at her friend. Janet had to look away for a moment.

"Hey are you okay?"

"Sleeping Beauty was the first fairy-tale we watched together. It was the first time she has fallen asleep in my arms on my couch and she hasn't woken up the whole night afterwards."

Sam smiled at her, genuinely happy for her. It could mean nothing… and it could also mean that Cassie has changed her opinion about her time on Earth… Maybe that fairy-tale had no significance to her but it surely had some for Janet.

Three weeks passed quickly. The weather got better. And the Saturday was actually a warm day. The sun was shining and it was a perfect time to have a party and be in the garden.

When of Cassie's friends asked her how she has celebrated her birthday in Canada, she didn't know what to answer at first. She had to think about it..

"I guess you can say we didn't celebrate it much. There was just a pie but nothing else… this is my first big party ever!"

And girls seemed to be enjoying their time together.

Janet had her house full of kids in fairy-tale-ish costumes, talking, chatting, singing, laughing, eating cake and sipping on sweet soda. Janet was grateful. With the help of her friends they all managed to prepare this amazing party for Cassie. She looked like she was really thrilled.

After the cake came all the wonderful presents. Kids brought lots of things. It looked like that with a bit of help of their parents, they managed to introduce Cassie to some essential aspects of living in the USA. She got some books, CDs, a doll, some movies. She was thrilled. From Sam she got some skirts and summer dresses. But the best present was the last one.

Jack managed to make everything ready in the garden. And when he brought her there, she actually screamed in happiness. There, standing under the big tree she couldn't name yet, were swings. Since the first day at the playground, she has loved them. It was the best part of every playground. Swings.

She hugged Jack and he ushered her to them, to try them.

Kids were playing in the garden, Jack, Teal'c and Daniel were taking care of the food and drinks and everything seemed to be just fine. It was actually unbelievable to them. Nothing happened. Everything went smoothly.

When they run out of lemonade, Sam and Janet walked into the house to make some.

Janet seemed to have something on her mind. Sam could tell she wanted to talk about something. Well, they haven't been exactly best friends, but they somehow managed to get closer during the last months. Nobody could be surprised though.

"Janet? Is everything okay?"

She knew she would most probably regret it. But she had to ask. She had to know. After taking care of Cassie together, after all the crap they had to go through together, she couldn't just pretend and smile and walk away…

"I am so sorry, Sam, I really am."

"For what?"

"I know you wanted to adopt her. And I also know that you didn't do it because you thought she'd be better with me… but…"

"Janet you don't have to do this… we don't have to talk about it."

Janet turned abruptly, the tray with lemonades in her hands. She looked into Sam's eyes and Sam understood. Janet had to talk about it, it was troubling her. There was something deep there… Sam smiled at her to give her courage to go on.

"We have to. Please."

"Okay… and yes, it's truth. I wanted to adopt her… but with my job description it wouldn't be wise. She needed and she still needs stable family. And I really am grateful that you managed to adopt her yourself."

"She loves you, you know?"

"I know…"

"Not just you… you all guys. She's looking up to Jack, she sees him as …"

"A father?"

"Sometimes it seems so… I guess only time will show. But she has both Daniel and Teal'c as her uncles wrapped around her fingers. And I heard General Hammond asking her to call him grandpa…"

"I'm not surprised…"

"She loves you so much…"

"You think it's wrong?"

"God no! I'm grateful for everything you do… Sam… I'm so damn scared of this all. I don't know what to do. I love her, I really do, but what if I am not good enough? Maybe she'd be better with you… I just…"

"Janet listen to me… no matter what, we all are going to be here to help you. Look, usually parents have nine months to get ready and accept the fact of becoming a parent. And you skipped that. You also skipped another eleven years… it's okay to be afraid. But you are doing great!"

"You will be here to help me, right?"

"As I said… always. I cannot be a mom now… but I can be an aunt you know? And you can bet I'm going to spoil her and show her all the things you would have to deal with later.."

Both women were looking at each other, smiling, tears glistering in their eyes. The usually friendship between fellow officers just started to evolve into something more, into something bigger. And they knew it would be one of the best things in their lives. They both needed 'best friend' and somehow it came into their lives with the little girl from Hanka. They found each other. And it felt damn good to have a friend.

Daniel looked around but didn't see Janet. He didn't see Sam or the lemonade either. He got a bit worried that something happened so he walked into the house. He found them there, standing in the kitchen, looking at each other, smiling, giggling, crying. He smiled at them.

Daniel took the tray from Janet's hands, walked outside, yelled 'lemonade!' and then went over to see what was Jack doing with the big ball Cassie got as a present.

Sam and Janet stayed in the kitchen. They sat down to the ground. They needed some time. They talked about some small things from their lives and this whole getting-to-know-you-better thing was feeling pretty good.

"Sam… if anything happens to me, I want you to take care of her."

"Don't talk like that…"

"Come on, you know as well as I do that life can be … cruel. I just have to know she will be taken care of. And there is nobody I would trust more with her life and soul than you."

"Okay… of course I will take care of her. But don't you dare to get hurt, you hear me?"

"I … I will also leave a will. I want to list you as her guardian, Sam. I want you to have the rights to make decisions about her life… I know I'm asking a lot and I don't want you to answer me now… just think about it, please."

"You trust me that much?"

"Yes. I do."

Sam smiled her and nodded.

"Okay. Let me know where to go and what to sign and I will"

"Thank you…"

And they began to cry, happy and feeling light-headed. They certainly didn't expect that while getting up in the morning.

Janet knew Sam would always take care of Cassie. She knew that Sam would have been a good mom. She has seen her with Cassie after all. She knew how hard it must have been on her not to be able to adopt the girl herself. And with this decision, she gave her the chance. Janet knew it was only fair to give at least a bit of that favor back.

Sam knew that Janet trusted her, she knew that Janet wanted the best for Cassie. She also knew that her decision to support Janet Fraiser in the adoption of Cassandra from Hanka, was one of her best ideas ever.

Jack came into the kitchen and saw them there. He stood there, not knowing what to do, what to think, how to act. Sam noticed him and they both smiled at him.

"Girl talk… sir."

Jack just nodded, absolutely not sure what the hell she meant by that comment. But he has learned something while working with Carter… and while being married. There would always be something that only other woman would understand. There simply would be things absolutely out of the scale of understanding for men. And maybe it was better that way.

In few minutes Carter and Fraiser walked out to the garden, bringing ice-cream along. They really had fun. Who would have thought that playing those silly children's games would be so much fun.

When it was getting dark, they all went inside. Janet was still in the garden with Sam, taking care of all the things left behind. She heard Cassie suddenly.

"Mom? Can we watch the Sleeping Beauty now?"

"Sure, honey! Tell Daniel to make you some pop-corn…"

"Jack's already working on it!"

Sam smiled at her. Cassie got four different versions of Sleeping Beauty on DVDs. Yeah, people knew she loved it.

"This is the first time she called me mom…"

Janet told her out of the blue. She looked happy and relieved. They all knew that Cassie has been trying to get a hold of everything but it was simply too much to learn. And they didn't want to force her so she's been calling her Janet all the time. Sometimes even 'doc' but fortunately too often.

In the next two hours adults were sitting, trying not to fall asleep, exhausted and proud. They managed to plan this amazing birthday party for Cassie. And that was just perfect.

Parents were coming around six to pick up their kids. There was a lot of thanking and handshaking.

Teal'c wasn't feeling well. He needed time to relax and meditate. He needed to get back to the base. Fortunately, one of the kids was a son of Captain Silvestri. He was working on the base, coming along with SG-6 from time to time. He offered him a ride. Teal'c accepted gladly. So after hugging Cassie goodbye and wishing her all the best, he left.

Cassie was tired as hell. She went to take a bath and get ready for bed. Others started to clean the place to make it look like a normal house again. They had no strengths left. They couldn't talk, they could hardly move around the place. Taking care of bunch of hyperactive kids was indeed pretty exhausting.

Cassie came into the living room in her pajamas. She sat down next to Jack and hugged him. Before he managed to ask her if everything was okay, she has already fallen asleep. He kept her there by his side for a moment.

"Doc, you want me to carry her to bed?"

"No, that's okay, thank you… I can do it."

"It would be no problem, really…"

"Thank you… I'll manage."

He wanted to try again. It was not that he wouldn't wish her to be the mom she was. He just wanted to play a part in Cassie's life as well. But when he noticed Carter looking at him, silently telling him not to argue, he let Fraiser take Cassandra into her arms and carry her to bed.

"Carter?"

"I'm sorry, Sir… But trust me, they need some time alone together. It's still pretty new to them both."

"I can live with that..."

They remained silent, all tired and ready to fall asleep. Jack looked at Sam and smiled at her then.

"You know, Carter… one day you're gonna be a terrific mom."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know you… and because you can train now. And you can gain some experience with all the stuff in the most difficult age…"

He said that to make her smile at him, to make the tension disappear from her shoulders. And it worked. She relaxed.

Janet put Cassie into her bed, tugged her in. She woke up and smiled at her.

"Hey… did you enjoy the day?"

"Yup… was nice…"

"Sleep… dream about something nice…"

"Will do. Love you, mom…"

And before Janet managed to process it and answer, Cassie has already been sleeping. She kissed her forehead and with tears in her eyes she came back to the living room. Sam immediately noticed the tears.

"What happened?"

"She told me she loved me… and she called me mom again…"

"Janet…"

Sam got up and came over to her friend to give her a happy hug. Guys wouldn't understand but it was a very important moment for them. It was one of the points where your life would take a turn and change.

"Come on… no more crying today…"

Jack pleaded. And they both giggled.

"Ask them, Janet."

"Ask us…?"

"As I told Sam… Cassie loves you, Sir, Daniel. She needs you. And so do I. I can't do this without your help. I won't make it without you…"

Jack looked at her. She managed to put both fear and happiness into that sentence. He stood and walked to her. He put one of his hands onto her face and made her look into his eyes.

"Listen to me, Fraiser. Okay?"

"Yes, Sir…"

"Cassandra loves you. You're doing hell of a good job with her. You're amazing and you will never ever doubt yourself, is that clear?"

"Sir…"

"Just promise me you will always try to be yourself. Because Fraiser, you're one fine person and Cassie is really lucky to have you."

She nodded and hugged him briefly. And to their mutual surprise, he held her for a minute. He didn't mind. He could understand the fear of failing…

Sam went to the couch and sat down. She was way past beyond being exhausted.

"So you will help us, right?"

"Damn yeah!"

"But do you realize she won't be able to date until she's 35 or something?"

Daniel asked them all.

"I can see Jack with a staff weapon threatening every poor guy trying to ask her out."

Then they all laughed. It was a joke but it was significant. It meant they would all stick together and be the family Cassandra needed.

They wanted to leave but Janet asked them to stay. Besides they were in no state to drive anyway. So resting in her living room, they kept on talking till falling asleep.

The last one up was Jack. He could see Sam sitting next to Daniel, both asleep. He meant what he had said earlier. She would be a good mom… and he could even picture his best friend as a father. He would be the natural type, scared all the time but the best ever.

Before he fell asleep he realized one important thing. The girl was just not a girl to him anymore. She found her way into his heart and settled right next to the spot with his son's name on it. He began to love her as a daughter and he would do everything to keep her safe and happy. And he knew he was not the only one.

The only thing Colonel O'Neill didn't know before he fell asleep was that the kind and happy doctor that was sleeping on the sofa next to him, would ask him tomorrow to sign the same paper as Sam.

Fighting the bad guys, losing people, getting hurt, it all seemed unfair. But they managed to do some good as well. And becoming the craziest family ever in order to protect the life one girl seemed to be enough to make them all want to go on with their lives and their jobs.

They would feel sore in the morning from sleeping on the couch. There were still things everywhere, the house needed to be cleaned and put into some order again… but that was the price they had to pay. They would help Janet with the cleaning… and maybe they would do something together on Sunday. Perhaps trip to a ZOO sounded as a nice idea… but it would be up to Janet. She was the one parenting a little birthday princess after all. And she was damn good at it...

* * *

**A/N: **_So yeah - a birthday story for a birthday girl - that would be me :o) See this is how it works - I'm posting this after midning so it's 14th March today and that means it's my birthday :o) So I'm giving you all a story because I feel like making people happy :o) And if you want to make me happy, send me a review or a message - as always it would be nice. And this time even better than usually - it would be like a birthday present from you :o) I usually never celebrate birthdays but with you guys? I think I can do that... :o)_

_In this story Janet adopted Cassie in September or October - I needed her to be 'mom' for a few months and it seemed fine - remember the ending scene at the playground? Could have been in autumn :o)_

_I know you would want to see a bit more about Jack and Sam's relationship but it wouldn't be appropriate... Too early for them. They had the feelings and they both had to try hard to suppress them and accept everything... but they wouldn't dare to act upon them. Some stolen looks, maybe... but nothing more. Besides this was not a story about Sam and Jack but about Cassandra. And I think it was right to pick Cassie and Janet as the main characters here. It was their story... others were just helping :o) And I know it was not much, just a little meaningless something… but hopefully it could make you at least a bit happy…_

_I promise you all that I'm working on the Ladybug story and I know there are some promised stories... I have really been busy... sorry. But I will work on them and finish them and post them :o)_

_Okay, gotta go to sleep, wouldn't want to fall asleep in my office in the morning... :o)_

_So thank you for reading and happy birthday you all born the same day as me - 14th March :o)_


End file.
